I confess that, in my younger years, dedicating a few months to personal and spiritual renewal sounded like a fancy excuse for throwing the towel and abandoning the ministry’s trenches.

Universal Pictures will distribute the film. “I hope people flood into theaters to see how God brings beauty from ashes”, said Francine Rivers, author of the novel.

The film, based on Francine Rivers’ novel, is a “retelling of the biblical book of Hosea during the California Gold Rush of 1850”. It will be released spring 2021.

When you read a book, are you one of those people who, like me, love to be kept in suspense until the very last moment?

In this 13th chapter of Hosea we unexpectedly come across one of the most remarkable verses in the book, if not in the whole Old Testament. But first we need to see its context. 

Will you, like Israel in Hosea's time, become increasingly confident in what you have gained? Or will you remember your origins, where you have come from, and so keep yourself humble before your God?

Some think that the doctrine of the love of God shows a weak Lord. But the love spoken of in Hosea’s book is the most ferocious type of love that history has ever known. It is a blaze fiercer than hell itself.

God is love. We often find this difficult to comprehend, especially when faced with hard circumstances, because our understanding of his love is so small. We find it hard to grasp how he can hold light and love in balance.

We can sow to please our sinful nature or sow to please the Spirit - in both cases we should be aware of what we are sowing for. Our sowing has consequences in the future.

So, what are your life goals at this moment in time? To get a better job? To get married? To move to a bigger house or flat? To get a better car? To have children? To pass your exams?

In the Western world today you will not find in public places very many idols of the type that you can see in Nepal. Does this mean that the West is superior and has largely got rid of its idols? Not at all! 

Why don't you ask God to give you a 'roadworthiness check' and see if there is anything that needs putting right? Like me, you may be surprised at what he puts his finger on.

Have you ever tried to bargain with God? If you do this for me, if you give me this healing, I will sacrifice something for you, do something that I think you will like. It doesn’t work.

When I worked in the European Commission one of the most tense times was when the annual promotion list was being published. The competition to get on the list and so rise up a grade was intense. 

When a society turns its back on the true God, the reality is very different from the one envisaged by John Lennon and the optimists of the 1960s. Hosea lived that reality and describes it to us in this chapter.

When God wanted to buy us back from our slavery to sin and wrongdoing, it took much more than money - it took the most precious thing that he could ever find, the blood of his own Son. 

If you are worried that you have committed a sin that cannot be forgiven, read this chapter and see how great is the Lord’s love for the human race; open yourself to him, so that you can receive that love.

Over 2,500 years ago the Lord used Hosea’s tangled family life to predict that he would adopt Gentiles - you and me included - into his chosen family.

The Lord Jesus wishes us all to experience much more of his love and his power. But before that can happen, we need to enter into the fellowship of his sufferings. 

Please join with me on a voyage of discovery into the book of Hosea, into the heart of God, into the depths of his love, and into his dealings with a world which has turned its back on him.